Amazing: Flaring star pushes out “snow line”

One of the fundamental questions in looking for life in the universe is figuring out where the materials necessary for making life are likely to exist.

These complex organic molecules are, somewhat surprisingly, found all over: in giant dust clouds in space, and on lonely comets in our own solar system. The question for astronomers is figuring out how they make their way onto planets like Earth.

Astronomers looking to learn about the solar system’s early history often turn to comets, as they formed very early in our history and haven’t changed much since. Alternatively, they can look to other star systems and the gaseous disks around young stars that are still in the process of forming planets.